We stock what we would write with ourselves, and you can try all of it before it goes in the bag.

Quire began in 2014 as one shelf of Italian notebooks inside a bookshop on Leith Walk. Today it fills a whole shopfront on Ash Row: cotton papers, pencils from three continents, a wall of inks and a counter where every nib can be tested. Nothing goes on a shelf until one of us has filled a page with it.

See the shelves Thursday evenings at the shop
A long wall of shelves filled with jars of coloured pens and pencils

Five shelves, chosen by hand.

Everything in the shop sits on one of five shelves. We keep each small enough to know by heart, and restock it from makers we have met.

A fanned stack of thick white cotton paper with a textured surface
A bottle of black ink beside a pale fountain pen on white cloth
Three hand-bound notebooks with orange, black and red covers stacked on a table
White envelopes sealed with red wax on a wooden desk beside a wax warmer
Fine paint brushes laid beside a white porcelain palette

  1. Paper & card

    Cotton rag, laid, kraft and Japanese papers by the sheet, card from 120 to 600 gsm and envelopes to match.

  2. Pens & ink

    Fountain pens to try at the counter, dip pens, fineliners and a wall of forty bottled inks.

  3. Notebooks

    Hand-bound, stitched and lay-flat books in every ruling: plain, lined, squared and dotted.

  4. Post & sealing

    Writing sets, envelopes, sealing wax, brass seals and stamps for the letters people keep.

  5. Paint & drawing

    Pencils in every grade, watercolour pans, sable brushes and sketchbooks that take a wash.

The paper library. Touch before you buy.

Forty papers live in flat drawers behind the counter. Ask for a drawer and we lay the sheets out for you, with a pen to try them.

Six swatches of handmade cotton paper in white and pale pink with torn edges A close view of brown kraft paper with a soft mottled texture Red and pink marbled paper combed into feathered vertical patterns Overlapping sheets of blue, gold and plum Japanese paper printed with patterns

Made from cotton linters at a small mill in Somerset. Soft, strong and forgiving under a wet nib; the deckle is left as it came off the mould.

Sizes
A4, A3 and half imperial
Best for
Fountain pens, watercolour, invitations
Price
£2.40 a sheet

Unbleached and honest. Takes pencil, brush pen and stamps beautifully, and wraps a parcel well enough to make it worth the post.

Sizes
A3 sheets, 10 m rolls
Best for
Sketching, wrapping, notebook covers
Price
60p a sheet, £9 a roll

Every sheet floated by hand on a bath of size in Florence, so no two are the same. Ask to see the drawer: there are usually around thirty.

Sizes
50 × 70 cm
Best for
Endpapers, covers, boxes
Price
£9 a sheet

Long-fibred Japanese paper, thin enough to see light through and still hard to tear. Some sheets carry gold leaf pressed in at the mill.

Sizes
64 × 94 cm
Best for
Bookbinding, lampshades, wrapping
Price
From £6 a sheet

New on the shelves.

Four things that came in over the last fortnight. Runs are small: when they are gone, we wait for the maker's next batch.

Ask us to hold one
  • The corner of a black cloth-bound notebook with a leather bookmark between the pages

    Linen-bound A5 notebook

    £24

    Hollin Bindery, Sheffield

  • A sharpened black pencil lying across an ochre notebook

    Graphite set, six grades

    £14

    Orba, Lisbon

  • Three white envelopes closed with red wax seals on a dark wooden table

    Wax and brass seal kit

    £32

    Merrow & Lane, Bath

  • An open tin of watercolour pans with a brush and a jar of water

    Travel watercolour tin

    £38

    Studio Kesh, Porto

Ten of our thirty-one makers, most of them small.

We buy direct, in small batches, from people who make one thing well.

Printed to order, in the back room.

Letterpress cards, invitations and notepaper on a 1960s platen press. Small runs from fifty sheets, in four steps.

Start a print order
  1. Mirrored metal type spelling a word, locked up and ready for the press

    Step 1

    Choose a stock, set the type

    Pick a board from the paper library. We set your words in metal or wood type, or make a plate from your own drawing.

  2. Rows of wooden letters set in the bed of a printing press

    Step 2

    Proof and adjust

    A proof reaches you within three working days. We change spacing, colour and position until it is right.

  3. Large wooden type inked and locked into the bed of a press

    Step 3

    Print by hand

    Every sheet is fed into the press by hand, one colour at a time. Expect a soft, deep bite into the paper.

  4. Kraft boxes tied with red and white twine and a handwritten tag

    Step 4

    Wrap and collect

    Wrapped in tissue and kraft, ready to collect on Ash Row, or posted anywhere in the UK.

The Monthly Quire. Paper by post.

A parcel of paper, ink and one small surprise, posted on the first Friday of every month. Pause or stop it whenever you like.

  • Pocket

    £12a month

    Something small to write in, every month.

    • An A6 notebook or pad
    • A pen refill or a pencil
    • A set of four postcards
    Choose Pocket

  • Desk

    Most chosen

    £24a month

    The full parcel, for a desk that gets used.

    • An A5 notebook
    • A bottle of ink or a pen
    • Ten sheets from the paper library
    • 10% off everything in the shop
    Choose Desk

  • Studio

    £45a month

    For people who make things out of paper.

    • Everything in Desk
    • A letterpress print each season
    • One Thursday evening a quarter
    • First pick of new arrivals
    Choose Studio

Thursday evenings at the shop.

Once a week we push the tables together, put the kettle on and teach one thing properly. Eight places, every material included.

Questions at the counter.

Anything else: call 0131 000 0000 or write to hello@quire.example.

Can I try a pen before I buy it?

Yes. Every pen we sell has a tester at the counter, with a pad of the papers we stock. Bring your own notebook if you want to see how a nib behaves on it.

Do you post outside the UK?

We post across the UK in two to three working days and to most of Europe in about a week. Bottled ink cannot fly, so it travels by road only.

Can you repair a fountain pen?

We clean, flush and adjust nibs in the shop, usually while you wait. Older pens that need new sacs or parts go to a restorer we trust in York.

Can I pause the Monthly Quire?

Pause, skip or stop it by email before the last Monday of the month. Nothing is charged for a month you skip.

How small can a print run be?

Fifty cards or sheets is our smallest run. Most wedding orders fall between eighty and two hundred.

Are the evenings for complete beginners?

Yes. Every evening starts from the first stroke, and every material is included in the price.

27 Ash Row,Edinburgh.

The back room of a busy paper workshop, with a woman working at a long desk among presses and stacked books
Opening hours
Tuesday to Saturday, 10 to 6Sunday, 11 to 4Closed on Mondays
Find us
27 Ash Row, Edinburgh EH7 0AAFive minutes from the top of Leith Walk

Ask the shop

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